How Victoria's Secret Fashion Show Hair Has Evolved Over the Past Two Decades

Just in time for nobody fitting in their jeans post-Thanksgiving, America will now gather to collectively gaze at barely clothed supermodels. That's right, the 2017 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show is just around the corner (November 28 at 10:00 P.M. ET on CBS), and there are plenty of new reasons to tune in—including a new location (Shanghai!), the drama going down over models and artists being barred from entering the country, and Lais Ribeiro in the most over-the-top Fantasy Bra to date.

Yet amid all the excitement, cleavage, and bronzer, the essence of the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show is always that hair. So synonymous are long, voluminous, perfectly messy waves with Victoria's Secret–dom that any momentary break from the show's runway-hair norm now becomes headline-making news. But that's finally starting to change, and we're seeing a shift back to personal expression instead of one standard of "sexy." Let's take a little strut down memory lane and revisit how dramatically Victoria's Secret Fashion Show hair has changed since the annual event's debut in 1995.

The anything-goes era: 1995 to 1998

The first Victoria's Secret Fashion Show was all about straight blowouts; a handful of models even had short, sleek bob haircuts. For several years after that, each girl who stepped onto the runway had a different hairstyle. Some had long waves similar to what we now associate with the Victoria's Secret Angels, but others wore boyish crops (Helena Christensen), curls (Naomi Campbell), shoulder-length hair with flipped-up ends (Rebecca Romijn), even a side ponytail (Tyra Banks).

The straight years: 1999 to 2001

The show finally featured a unified hair theme in 1999—not big and wavy but straight and verrry long (as in, waist-length extensions). The following year saw a few models wearing waves, but through 2001, the dominant texture was straight, even on Gisele Bundchen, who'd later become known for having the ultimate VS bombshell hair. Come 2002, some models hair began to get the tousled bedhead treatment, and some even had wavy hair that foreshadowed the look that would eventually come to define the show.

The barrel-curl years: 2003 to 2007

Then the curling iron took hold in 2003, with models like Karolina Kurkova wearing tight waves that weren't brushed out. The next four years saw varying degrees of curl, sometimes roughed-up with a little retro Brigitte Bardot-style teasing at the crown and a center part in the front (2005), other times big, soft, and smoother.

"Victoria's Secret waves": 2008 to 2015

The curls relaxed into waves in 2008. More volume appeared in 2009, albeit on much longer hair. The waves began to uniformly bend away from the models' faces in 2010, and by 2011, the waves were further fine-tuned with that VS look we've come to expect: smoothed at the roots, big and bendy toward the bottom. For 2015's show, hairstylist Sarah Potempa and her team achieved the famous look using one key tool: The Beachwaver. (Click over to see our detailed how-to.)

The you do you years: 2016 to 2017

Gigi and Bella Hadid at the 2016 show

Pascal Le Segretain

2017 show

Matt Winkelmeyer

2017 show

Getty Images

2017 show

Matt Winkelmeyer

Finally we're starting to see a shift back to the days of the early supermodels. Instead of adding extensions or blowing out curls for everyone, the look is less homogenized. Maria Borges set the stage in 2015 when she made history by wearing her short, cropped natural curls on the runway. Then six women followed suit in 2016. "I feel like I did my part," Borges told us last year. "I showed women they don't have to look one way to feel beautiful. Be you and showcase your beauty." This year, there are still plenty of beach waves—it by far remains a core part of the VS look—but at least eight models are wearing their natural curls, proving "sexy" isn't—and shouldn't be—limited to single hairstyle.